Share

Google Ends Forced Arbitration After Employee Protest

More than 20,000 workers walked out of Google offices in November to protest the company's response to cases of sexual harassment.

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Google said Thursday that it will no longer bar employees from suing the company over discrimination or wrongful termination, or from joining together in class-action suits.

The change will end Google’s policy of forcing employees to litigate such disputes in arbitration, where hearings are typically closed and the arbitrators are paid for by the company. Critics say arbitration allows sexual harassers to prey on multiple victims because of the secrecy.

In November, Google waived mandatory arbitration for sexual harassment and assault claims. Thursday’s move is a significant expansion of that policy. Among other things, it will allow current Google employees to move past claims from arbitration to court. Still, recent policy improvements at Google and other tech companies arrived too late for some female employees.

Employment lawyers say sexual harassment and discrimination claims are often filed together. What’s more, forcing employees to file harassment claims as individuals made it less likely for workers to pursue their case in court. Historically, class-action lawsuits have been a vehicle for change, such as curbing sexual harassment on Wall Street.

Google’s policy changes follow sustained employee protest. The November change around harassment claims came one week after 20,000 Google employees walked out of their offices to protest Google’s mishandling of sexual harassment cases. Thursday’s change comes days before a group of Google employees plan to accompany lawmakers as they introduce bills in the House and Senate to end forced arbitration for all workers.

The bulk of the changes won’t apply to Google’s army of temporary employees, contractors, and vendors. In July, Bloomberg reported that more than half of Google’s workforce are temps, contractors, and vendors.

Legislators, moved in part by the Google protests, raised concerns about mandatory arbitration when Sundar Pichai testified before Congress in December. On Thursday, US representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) wrote on Twitter, “Today, justice won.”

The #MeToo movement brought mandatory arbitration under public scrutiny, as one of a group of legal agreements, such as non-disparagement clauses, that hurt victims of sexual harassment while protecting predators. The Google employee walkout followed a New York Times report that Android founder Andy Rubin received a $90 million exit package even after Google investigators found credible claims of sexual harassment against him.